This invention relates to apparatus for winding webs, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for winding elongate rolls of webs such as paper to be cut into rolls of lesser length.
In the manufacture of rolls of towels, tissue, and the like, paper of a suitable basis weight and caliper is formed as a relatively wide web and is wound either into a larger-sized parent roll for subsequent rewinding into a lesser sized roll, or it is wound into rolls of lesser size directly from the forming apparatus. The lesser sized rolls are termed "logs", and are cut into rolls of lesser length for use by the consumer.
Apparatus for winding webs generally comprises a series of mandrels for carrying cores, each mounted at one end on a turret rotatable about a horizontal axis. Each mandrel is indexed sequentially, in an orbital travel path, between a core loading station, operational stations such as adhesive applicator, winding, and tail sealing stations, and a log unloading station. The free ends of the mandrels are unsupported at the core loading and the log unloading stations. The mandrels are engaged and supported, however, at the operational stations by a suitable latching or support cup. Due to the one-ended or cantilever support of the mandrels, which are relatively long, they tend to flex, making it difficult to align them for engagement by the latching cups at the operational station. For convenience of description of the present invention, the winding station, the adhesive applicator station, and the tail sealing station also will be referred to generally as the operational stations. Apparatus of the kind thus far described is well known, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,600, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide simple and effective means for overcoming the hereinabove described alignment difficulties such as are encountered in a web winding apparatus.
It is a further objective of the invention to provide improved means that is readily included in an existing web winding apparatus, for overcoming the hereinabove described alignment difficulties.